Google Blogoscoped

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Google’s Philosophy, Now and Then

A long, long time ago – in web years! – Google released their 10 Things Google Has Found to be True page listing the core of their corporate philosophy. The Seside.net blog used the Wayback Machine to compare the original page back then with Google’s current version, analyzing the changes.

Another revealing change happened this year in a Google’s help entry on censorship. First it was reading:

Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and content of our results are completely automated; we do not manipulate our search results by hand. We believe strongly in allowing the democracy of the web to determine the inclusion and ranking of sites in our search results.

Then it was reading:

Document Not Found

Sorry, the document you requested is not available. You can visit the main page.

After that, it displayed:

It is Google’s policy not to censor search results. However, in response to local laws, regulations, or policies, we may do so. When we remove search results for these reasons, we display a notice on our search results pages. Please note: For some older removals (before March 2005), we may not show a notice at this time.

And today, the page reads:

It is Google’s policy not to censor search results. However, in response to local laws, regulations, or policies, we may do so. When we remove search results for these reasons, we display a notice on our search results pages.

Also see the previous take on updating Google’s philosophy, the visual history of the Google homepage, and coverage of Google China censorship.

[Thanks JohnMu!]

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